I don't know why every Arctic Cat owner has problems with their quad, its basically a praire, we don't have problems.....any more.

Tip 1: Make sure you have your oil in between half and full. If its at full or above you will have problems with smoke and oil in the air box.

Tip 2: Ride the quad for 10 hours or so, let the belt stretch. Once it stretchs it will no longer be in spec. Buy a black spring or equivelent for the secondary clutch, remove 1 shim. Your now in spec, most likely. Drive it till the belt dies, because it will no longer get out of spec.

Tip 3: Your diff is just like ours, only engage the front tires when they are moving. If you get stuck in 2x4 in mud do not try to engage 4x4. You could break the actuator that engages the front end.

Tip 4: The cylinders can fill up with fuel while trailering them, turn off the fuel if your going to let it sit for days on end and when moving them on the trailer for many hours.

Tip 5: Your detuned just like us, get a DG3 module and see the true power of the V-Twin.

Thats all I can think of right now, this is only for the 650 Cats.

 

bbertram;
I too have had the Prairie 650s before this Cat 650 but
when it comes to the oil the Cat 650 is different.
#1: The VTwin engine in the Cat 650 sits at a liitle bit more of a down angle towards the front of the engine, which results in the Cat 650 taking 1 more quart of oil vs the Prairie 650/700s. So on the Cat 650, you can fill right to the Full mark on the dip stick. I know of no one having any blow-out into the air-filter. I guess this down angle is to align the front & rear drive shafts more evenly to the front & rear diffs.
#3: The actuator also works different on the Cat vs the Prairie 650/700s. The Cat 650 engages into 4wd or 2wd at stop immediately when you push the button. I have engage it while moving as this was the way to do it with both of my Prairie 650s. The front diffs are also different, as I feel the Cat 650 pulls better in 4wd vs the P650s, just my opinon.
The Cat owners Manual says to engage 4x4 only when stopped & I am trying to get into the habit of doing it that way.
#5: Yes, our Cat 650s are detuned even more than my P650. One big reason is the snorkel on the Cat is restricted 22% more than the Prairie, this can be corrected by inlarging the intake snorkel but a rejetting will be in order once you allow in more air.
The one big reason I don't care for the aftermarket add-ons as for example the DG3 is the extra wear & tear that is put on the powertrain. Plus super unleaded is required, your belt will wear out quicker & the additional power puts more stress on the other driveline parts. To each their own when it comes to making mods for more power.
Your other TIPS are right on, good input on your part, nice of you to give other Cat 650 owners a heads up on this excellent Vtwin power plant & transmission.

 

The reason I mentioned the oil was because I did a see post on this forum tonight about some guy having oil in his airbox.

 

I saw that too.
Cat should do a "Recall" on the owners Manual for all of the 650 Cats, as their is a ton of misprints & mis-information stated. One big one is the oil capacity, the owners manual says 1.85qts, in the service repair manual it states 2.75 qts, the 2.75 is the correct amount. I measured what I drained out after reading on these post of some other Cat 650 owners noticing that the 1.85 qts was barely reading on the dip stick.
Maybe by smoking the belt & the higher rpms caused the oiling problem or maybe the crankcase was overfilled, no telling.
I for one do appreciate your input on the VTwin engine tips.